Epistemic Lexical Verbs Based on the COCA Corpus: A Study of “Argue”, “Note” and “Claim”

Abstract

This paper draws on the COCA corpus to conduct a comparative analysis of the usage characteristics of the epistemic lexical verbs “argue”, “claim” and “note”, examining dimensions such as frequency distribution, register differences, collocation features and colligations. The findings reveal that: (1) In terms of frequency and register distribution, “note” is the most frequently used, primarily concentrated in academic and expository registers; “argue” is active in both academic and interactional registers; whilst “claim” is more prevalent in media and online registers. (2) In terms of collocation features, “claim” frequently co-occurs with terms related to stance-taking groups and rights attribution; “argue” is more commonly paired with academic or professional subjects and argumentation-related vocabulary; whilst “note” primarily co-occurs with informative and explanatory vocabulary. (3) In terms of colligation, “claim” is commonly found in “that” clauses and noun phrases; “argue” primarily takes the form of “that” clauses and co-occurs with prepositional phrases; whilst “note” relies heavily on “that” clause structures. Overall, there are systematic differences in the usage patterns of these three verbs within discourse. Research indicates that the use of epistemic lexical verbs is constrained by multiple factors, including register, collocation and colligation.